Help me select neck sizing expander ball and confirm bullet.
Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 8:21 pm
I am reloading for a Chinese Type 53 which to the best that I can determine slugs at .302 for the lands and .312 for the grooves.
I have loaded a few thousand 9mm and .45acp pistol rounds over about a year but this will be my first rifle loading.
I have brand new Norma brass which I understand I don't have to full-length resize even for the first loading. The brand new brass out of the box does fit fine in my gun. I plan to neck size the brass before the first loading (and continue to only neck size as long as possible). So I got a RCBS neck sizing die for 7.62x54R which came with two expander balls.
The ball that came installed in the die measures .309 at its maximum width. The extra ball that came with the die measures .306. (These are my measurements with a Hornady digital caliper. I'm not sure what the advertised dimensions are for the balls.)
The bullets I have selected to load first are the .3105 Hornady 174gr FMJ BT item 3131. They measure .3105 on my Hornady digital caliper also.
So, assuming that this .3105 bullet is reasonable to load for this gun, which of the two expander balls would be best: the smaller .306 or the larger .309? I'm not sure what the typical desired difference is between bullet size and neck sizing expander size. I think for .312 bullets I'd definitely use the larger .309 and with .308 bullets I'd use the smaller .306, but my .3105 seems to fall in the middle.
Thank you for your time and any help and advice you can give.
I have loaded a few thousand 9mm and .45acp pistol rounds over about a year but this will be my first rifle loading.
I have brand new Norma brass which I understand I don't have to full-length resize even for the first loading. The brand new brass out of the box does fit fine in my gun. I plan to neck size the brass before the first loading (and continue to only neck size as long as possible). So I got a RCBS neck sizing die for 7.62x54R which came with two expander balls.
The ball that came installed in the die measures .309 at its maximum width. The extra ball that came with the die measures .306. (These are my measurements with a Hornady digital caliper. I'm not sure what the advertised dimensions are for the balls.)
The bullets I have selected to load first are the .3105 Hornady 174gr FMJ BT item 3131. They measure .3105 on my Hornady digital caliper also.
So, assuming that this .3105 bullet is reasonable to load for this gun, which of the two expander balls would be best: the smaller .306 or the larger .309? I'm not sure what the typical desired difference is between bullet size and neck sizing expander size. I think for .312 bullets I'd definitely use the larger .309 and with .308 bullets I'd use the smaller .306, but my .3105 seems to fall in the middle.
Thank you for your time and any help and advice you can give.